The 4-Cs of “Other”
When we look at someone else and perceive them as “Other” as not the same as us, as not as valuable, not as smart, or as good as we are, it
is usually because of one of what I call the 4-Cs of Other. See if you agree with
me that when we evaluate people and place them in the “Other” bin it tends to be because
of one or more of the following—- their Color (race and ethnicity),
- their Culture (language, customs, etc),
- their Creed (what they believe or don’t believe, how they vote), or
- their Condition (socio-economic status, physical health, mental health, job or role, and other current circumstances).
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| One of these things is not like the other... but which one? |
Having escaped the Nazi death warrant placed on him for
smuggling Jewish teens out of France he joined the U.S. Army and was sent to a
remote island in the South Pacific where he was immersed in a very different
culture than he had previously experienced. He had to overcome his prideful
tendency to see the islanders as less than himself.
Initially, he viewed the natives as “primitives”—as Other.
But after he was unable to navigate jungle trails, and had to rely on a
five-year-old child as a guide, it became obvious “that within the context of
that culture, I was clearly the inferior—an adult man who could not have
survived without the guidance of a child. And from the point of view of the
local inhabitants—a valid point of view—I was Other, inferior, and they were
superior.”[2]
The pernicious pride of Self can be manifested in any or all
of the 4-Cs. Just because we are not prone to one type of prejudice does not mean
that we are free of all of it. We may quickly recognize the common humanity and
equality between races, but show economic bigotry that is surprisingly
harsh. Or perhaps we don't care about finances but if someone disagrees in any
way with our core beliefs and values we are quick to vilify them. These
attitudes need not be expressed in an antagonistic or bigoted way, for they
often ooze out in a paternalism that assumes that they, the Other, need our intervention on their
behalf.
Pride deceives us so subtly that we think we are not like
them, and perhaps even thank God for it…like when we read about the Hollywood
A-lister’s latest addiction or drive past the persistent panhandler at the
freeway exit. Jesus Christ confronted this arrogant attitude of the Other in the parable of the Pharisee & Tax Collector in the Gospel
of Luke.
He also told this parable to some who trusted in
themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two
men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax
collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus:
‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a
week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax
collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but
beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I
tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For
everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself
will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14)
A second downward step follows where we not only diminish the other by
our stereotyped judgment, but we objectify him to use him for our
own purposes. I suppose that I could call these selfish actions we take, based
on the 4-Cs the 5th C... Control. “Objectification” is when
we treat other people as objects and we do it far too often. Though all humans
are created in the image of God, we excuse our downgrading them based on our internal and infernal 4-C evaluations. This never honors God, nor accurately
reflects the love of Christ, but rather it grieves the Spirit.
Jesus has not called his followers to a place of control,
but to love one another. The work of Christ removed the divisions that once were in place, so why do we keep acting like they still matter?
To the Galatians, Paul wrote,
“For as many of
you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There
is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and
female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:27-28)
And to the Ephesians, he further wrote,
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the
flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is
made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that
time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and
strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the
world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off
have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he
himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh
the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of
commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new
man in place of the two, so making peace, and might
reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the
hostility. (Ephesians 2:11-16)
Griffin, in applying these teachings specifically to the
issue of race might just as well have been addressing all of the 4-Cs (or 5)
when he wrote, “I
believe that before we can truly dialogue with one another”—says Griffin in
“Beyond Otherness”—we must first perceive intellectually, and then at the
profoundest emotional level, that there is no Other—that the Other is simply
Oneself in all the significant essentials.”[3]
Let’s pitch our pitiful collection of Cs (Color, Culture,
Creed, Condition, and Control) that we so often use to further our own kingdoms
in order to pursue Christ (the “C” who makes us all one) and the furtherance of
that Kingdom that will never be shaken.
Let the conversation begin!
Let the conversation begin!
Excellent post, Greg. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! Anyone want to answer the question about the picture?
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